A record high number of federal income tax filers and their dependents moved from New York to other states from 2019 to 2020, and the average incomes of Empire State out-migrants topped $100,000 for the first time, according to newly released (IRS). Read More
Federal census data for 2020 indicate New York State's total population increased by 823,147 residents, or 4 percent, since 2010. Population gains over the last decade were concentrated in urban areas and inner suburbs, while most rural communities s Read More
“The upstate rural areas are declining in population; the small cities and villages are also declining. The larger upstate cities are declining the least or increasing slightly, which is presumably due to the foreign immigration, which is refugee resettlement,” says E. J. McMahon, director of research at the Empire Center. Read More
There has also been declining enrollment at New York's public colleges, mainly at its community colleges. At public schools, the 2.6 million students is the lowest in nearly 30 years, according to the Empire Center for New York State Policy. Read More
The weak population numbers for upstate continues a pattern that has played out for at least a decade, said E.J. McMahon, research director for the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank. "The rural areas are the weakest," McMahon said. "The upstate decline is continuing. It's not much different from the picture we have been seeing and the same components are causing it: the combination of domestic migration losses in every county but two (Saratoga and Ontario), low foreign immigration and more births than deaths in a lot of rural counties. You put that all together and you have a population decline." Read More
Newly released Census Bureau data on the nation’s declining uninsured rate held good news and bad news for New York. Read More